NBA seeks to double rights fees from Disney, Time Warner - WSJ

July 14 (Reuters) - The National Basketball Association is
looking to double the TV-rights fees it receives from Walt
Disney Co and Time Warner Inc's Turner
Broadcasting as the league finalizes deals for nationally
televised games, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people
familiar with the matter.

Disney is currently paying NBA about $485 million a year,
while Turner's deal is worth $445 million annually, the report
said. (on.wsj.com/1rmQJzc)

Both Disney and Turner have eight-year contracts in place
that run through the 2015-2016 season, but the companies are
already in preliminary discussions with the league about
extending their deals, the newspaper reported.

NBA may look to split the finals coverage between the two
media companies so that the championship round games would air
on channels belonging to both, the Journal said.

NBA team owners are meeting Tuesday to discuss TV-rights
deals and other matters, the report said.

The NBA Finals are currently broadcast only on Disney's ABC
network, but Turner is pushing to get a piece of the coverage,
the report said.

Disney and Time Warner were not immediately available for
comment outside regular U.S. business hours.
(Reporting by Arnab Sen in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar
Warrier)